30 September 2013

Tommy Hilfiger isn't one of my favourite labels, but it's one I admire for its extremely consistent brand image, ownership of the whole preppy college kids look (move over, Ralph Lauren) and instantly-recognisable The Hilfigers campaigns. For AW13, the American brand is doing what it does best...

28 September 2013

Gareth Pugh's typically avant-garde and futuristic shapes - this season with exaggerated shoulders and sculpted, skintight legs in sleek, shiny fabrics including latex and leather - came in white, silver, grey and aqua blue down the Paris Fashion Week catwalk this week.

My favourite look from the British designer's show has a more feminine feel than the rest of the collection, featuring an unusually wearable cool, pale blue bias cut gown, topped with a huge maribou feather headdress which packs the usual Pugh punch.

27 September 2013

26 September 2013

I recently attended the launch event for a pop-up store on Mount Street for Dorraj, a new luxury footwear brand whose founder, Jarrod Grossberg, loves shoes. Like seriously, loves shoes. He owns over 400 pairs, from sneakers to loafers and boots, traditional to high fashion. “Other people buy art,” he says. “I buy shoes. And that’s even if I can’t wear them or they don’t even fit. I just love them as objects. I have a whole room devoted to them, laid out on shelves. That sounds extravagant, but for me going in there is like visiting a gallery. It’s a pleasure. Of course, my friends and family all think I’m mad.”

So it was pretty inevitable that the 25-year-old, Sydney-born London College of Fashion graduate would venture into the footwear industry.

24 September 2013

The Urban Retreat Beautique is offering a free gift from French luxury beauty and skincare brand Sisley, which includes eight products in a stylish purple crocodile clutch bag, worth over £140. Best hop, skip and jump over to urbanretreat.co.uk before it sells out...

23 September 2013

August kicked off with the long-awaited Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100, the 100 mile bike race along the closed roads of Surrey and London, which I enjoyed so much I entered the 2014 ballot the morning it opened. The weather was good (I mean really good for England; it already seems like a distant memory), so the month was filled with lunches on the grass, cycling everywhere,sunglasses permanently on, fresh salads, chilled rosé and al fresco dining at night (and the obligatory insect bites that promises) with a day of Pimms, champagne and losing money at Goodwood races, a trip to Normandy to explore the countryside and ancient Rouen (more on that later) and a weekend in the Yorkshire Dales.

19 September 2013

This season, Warehouse invited customers to be the stylists of the Autumn/ Winter 2013 collections in the new Style Me If You Can campaign.

The high street brand created a series of day-in-the-life videos about the Warehouse girl, a busy bee in London who needs outfits that work around her; the nine videos show different looks for different occasions, as she changes her outfit every 90 minutes to suit each episode from walking the dog, to an interview and a date. It's a pretty cool concept, because it doesn't feel like advertising at all.

Time to put away my summer wardrobe and bring out the chunky knits, macs and boots; I've almost ruined two pairs of shoes with this recent downpour in London. Boo hoo. These cheap and cheerful white (well, now off-white) lace plimsolls with a one inch thick sole from Topshop became one of my most worn pair of shoes over these past few months. And there I was thinking I'd never go down the flatform route...

18 September 2013

I follow the constant stream of designer/ high street collaborations with great interest. The ones I was probably most excited about were the Lanvin for H&M, Versace for H&M and Maison Martin Margiela for H&M collections but I didn't buy anything from any* (although my boyfriend bought my favourite dress from the Lanvin collection because he's adorable) because ultimately they're made using the same fabrics, in the same factories and at the same fairly low quality standards of execution as the high street stores' mainline collections.

So I've made the decision that they're not worth the pricetag - if you want to buy into a designer's look but can't afford it, buy vintage, scour eBay, shop smart on designer discount sites like Cocosaor The Outnet, wait for the mega sales or buy high street "inspired by"s; don't buy the poor quality £160 sequin dress which everyone buys, you'll see on at least thirty girls that season before it becomes dated and you realise you only bought it because you got whipped up into a frenzy like the rest of the Regent Street queue, before it subsequently falls apart after one wash. I'm looking at you, Donatella.

17 September 2013

James Hyman Gallery is presenting an exhibition of rare, vintage photographs by Tony Ray-Jones, to coincide with the Only in England exhibition celebrating his work at the Science Museum this month. The British photographer documented English life and culture in the late 1960s and studying the grainy, real prints - part family photo albums, part intriguing Smiths album cover-style shots - takes you back in time as if you were there.

15 September 2013

French beauty brand NUXE's Crème Fraîche® de Beauté collection of skincare products feature botanical ingredients and have recently been relaunched with a new formula to cater for all skin types. One of France's best-selling cosmetics brands, NUXEfocuses on natural, innovative products and has a host of patents and its own R&D laboratory.

The nourishing Crème Hydratante et Apaisante 24H moisturiser soothes and hydrates normal to sensitive skin. I wouldn't classify my skin as sensitive but I prefer gentle skincare products, especially in the summer when your face has been in the sun. I usually apply a moisturiser with SPF in the morning and a cream like this at night to refresh dehydrated skin. Its soft texture sinks in right away for the rich, active ingredients to get to work, including aloe vera sap and eight plant milks to adjust the skin's moisture levels and the lightly fragranced white almond and orange flowers to soothe.

14 September 2013

British supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley covers the October 2013 issue of Elle UK with a fantastic circus themed shoot by Mariano Vivanco and styled by Anne-Marie Curtis. She suits the white blonde fringe bob and dark, gothic lipstick on that mega pout and the clothes are in the perfect autumn/ winter palette of black, navy and grey in angora wool, cashmere and leather. Funnily enough, the shot they chose for the cover is my least favourite.

11 September 2013

As the weather turns to autumn and the temperature dips, it's time to look back on photographs of our summer holidays and think about what amazing, warm times we all had frolicking in the sun on our jollies a few months ago... Boo hoo hoo. Or maybe that's just me.

10 September 2013

Boden's AW13 womenswear collection of cheerful prints, bright colours and versatile, wearable clothes is one of its best collections yet. I said that about the British brand's Spring/ Summer 2013 linetoo, but this latest season features modern updates to cool sixties styles, new versions of their best-selling items from previous seasons, warm merino wool, chunky knitwear and cosy layers perfect for autumn; despite not being their target yummy mummy demographic, I'd wear all of these gorgeous pieces...

9 September 2013

I'm pretty late to the party on this one, but I tried Shellac for the first time only a few months ago when I visited one of my favourite hair salons in London, Daniel Galvin, (where I got my bright red dip dyed hair did last year) and I'm hooked. It's rather good, isn't it?

I came across these amusing card designs in Mercantile at Spitalfields market and couldn't help but smile. Illustrator Alice Tams has been creating her quirky Birds in Hats greeting cards for three years, a project she describes as a joke that got out of hand. I don't know about you, but I'd rather receive a penguin in a top hat in the post over a boring cookie cutter card from Clinton's.

6 September 2013

5 September 2013

Pink is the colour of the season and every brand from high street to high end is selling at least a handful of hero products in the shade, from soft dusky salmon pinks to vibrant magenta in modern sports luxe and minimalist tailoring to full on girly styles. Here are some pieces which have caught my eye...

3 September 2013

Tramshed opened in summer 2012 but despite my office being only a couple of streets away I only visited for the first time recently. On Rivington Street in Shoreditch, Mark Hix's new restaurant is housed in a huge Grade II listed building which used to be an electricity generator for the tramway system.

2 September 2013

This is one of my favourite editorial shots, from the May 2012 issue of Canadian fashion magazine Flare. The rest of the shoot, photographed by Chris Nicholls and starring Bekah Jenkins, features beautiful ocean-inspired looks in shimmering blues, but it's this washed up mermaid in glistening turquoise green sequins photograph which stands out for me.